


Get It Right

by xLoveMx



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, and a god damn apology because jug deserves it, the boys making up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 11:29:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9818429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLoveMx/pseuds/xLoveMx
Summary: And if this is the universe´s way of making up for whatever the hell went wrong last summer, then that´s fine with Jughead.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so I´ve fallen head over heels for this show and not only for Veronica and Betty, but also for these two boys, so I wanted to write something for them. I don´t know what to think about it yet, but I just needed to write it down! 
> 
> But yes, I really REALLY want Archie to find out Jug´s homeless and now that the creepy teacher is out of the picture I want them to deal with their friendship and how it fell apart. 
> 
> If you enjoy the story leave a comment or just come and flail with me about these two! x

It´s been a few days since Miss G-… _Jennifer_ has left and Archie isn´t quite sure what to do with himself when the lights go out.

During the day he can find ways to distract himself, when school´s out he hangs out with Betty, Veronica and even Jughead, but as soon as the lights go out in Betty´s room there´s no one to text him and to keep his mind occupied.

Archie´s not even sure this is about a lost love, because the more space he puts between himself and the happenings of the last few weeks the more he realizes that he might have just desperately looked for something, or _someone_ , to hold on to. Maybe he wasn´t stupid, but Archie has been selfish on more than one occasion and that´s something that´s haunting him still.

His father doesn´t say anything when he sneaks out that night, even though he doesn´t really try hard not to be seen or heard. The streets are quiet and there´s still light on in some houses, but most people seem to have retired for the night.

He´s not really sure where he´s going, just aimlessly wanders around for a bit, in hopes of clearing his mind, and suddenly finds himself passing Pop´s diner. It´s probably way too late to get anything and while Archie doesn´t pull out his phone to check the time he can tell that the diner seems empty and probably closed.

The neon lights are shining as brightly as ever though and something about them draws Archie in. Some of his happiest memories have to do with the diner, just sitting there, laughing, having burgers, fries and milkshakes and somehow it has always been a safe spot for him.

Maybe that´s why he walks up the few steps and at least tries to press down the door handle.

The door opens and the little bell above it rings, making Archie smile subconsciously.

He hasn´t even taken his wallet with him, but something about just being here makes him feel better. As if, just maybe, things are going to be fine.

That´s when he sees Jughead sitting in a booth in the very back of the diner, half hidden behind his laptop.

It´s not unusual to see him here, though usually even he´s home by now and not out here, writing on his story. But then Archie does now a thing or two about inspiration and how it can strike you at the oddest hours.

He smiles, still, as he moves closer to where his friend is sitting. Surely, he might not have been the best friend to Jughead over the past few weeks, but maybe this is his chance of trying to do better.

“You ever leave this place?” Archie then grins as he leans against the seat. “Careful, people might think you live here.”

It´s meant to be a joke, really, but Jughead isn´t quick enough to come up with a witty response and that gives Archie the time to notice the backpack that´s settled against the foot of the table. He frowns slightly and almost makes another joke when he meets Jughead´s eyes.

There´s nothing of that usual mischief in there, no attempt of rolling them either, it´s a look Archie hasn´t seen since they were kids, since…he shakes his head slowly.

“What happened?”

He can tell that his friend is trying to come up with a response that makes sense, and excuse for why he´s here in the middle of the night when the diner should have long been closed, with a backpack, but even though they might have not been talking much since the summer Archie can practically see how Jughead gives up halfway through.

“I wasn´t just hanging onto the Drive-In for sentimental reasons.” Jughead finally says and his voice is oddly shaky. It makes Archie´s chest tighten a little and he slides into the booth opposite the other boy. “I slept there. _Lived_ …there.”

Surely, Archie knows that things have never really been easy for Jughead, but he feels something inside of him crack at the thought that the guy he had grown up with, whom he had once called his best friend, was practically homeless and hadn´t even seem to consider the possibility of asking Archie for a place to stay.

For a moment he isn´t sure what to say, because he wants to apologize, but he also knows it´s not going to be enough. He´s been selfish and he´s hurt people, but he hadn’t realized to what extent.

“You´re coming with me.” It takes Jughead a moment to let the words sink in and when they do he shakes his head.

“No. Archie. It´s fine.” He finally finds his voice then, briefly contemplating to just going back to typing up some of the notes he had made over the last few days and wait for Archie to leave, but then again he has been sitting there all night and nothing has come of it.

It´s like the words are _there,_ but they won´t come out _right._

“No…no. It´s not.” Archie cuts in, pulling Jughead out of his thoughts. “I wasn´t a good friend and I was…” He sighed. “I didn´t even care about the Drive-In and even if I didn´t know you were living there.” He paused, trying to ignore the ache in his chest for a moment, “I knew how much it meant to you. Please?”

Jughead can´t even remember the last time Archie said ‘please’ without it having to do something regarding himself and maybe that´s why he eventually closes his laptop and nods.

“Fine. But only for a night.”

The walk back to the house is silent, mostly because neither of the boys really know what to say. The house is just as quiet and dark as it had been when Archie had left earlier. They enter through the backdoor and Jughead places his bag next to the couch, exhaustion and sleeping curled up in a booth catching up with him.

“What´s your Dad gonna say?” He eventually asks, glancing over at Archie, who´s face he can´t really make out in the dark. It´s weird, being here again, a place he spent so much time at until last summer.

“He´s gonna be fine. Besides: He´s the one tearing down the Drive-In so…”

“You can´t tell him that I don´t have a place to stay, Archie.” Jughead interjects as he fights the urge to grab his backpack and leave. He´ll find a place to stay, he always does, but despite being a little embarrassed he can´t help but feel a sense of _home_.

Something he hasn´t felt in a while and he´s not entirely sure it doesn´t actually have to do with Archie.

“Can we just…talk about this tomorrow?” Archie asks and when he moves towards the stairs Jughead follows without any further questions.

It feels like a lifetime ago since they´ve done this, just sleep over, and he´s not sure what to do. For a moment, back at the diner, it had felt a little like the beginning of summer. When Jughead had packed his bag and waited for Archie at the diner to come and pick him up.

Only that Archie had never shown up. He hadn´t called or texted until a few days later and Jughead had never replied.

This time was different though, it´s almost as if time has repeated itself, but given them a chance of having a different outcome.

“I know the bed´s not big and we probably won´t fit as well as we used to,” Archie pulls him from his thoughts once more. “But for tonight it should be fine. If we sleep on our sides. We´ll figure the rest out tomorrow, okay?”

And there´s something so comforting about the thought of there being ‘a tomorrow’ for them that Jughead isn´t quite sure what to say. It´s weird, knowing that he can´t fake anything with Archie. He never could. The other boy had always seen right through him up until last summer, when he seemed to have stopped caring, and so Jughead had too.

Or he had pretended to. But that obviously hadn´t worked out, or otherwise he wouldn´t have gotten involved with the whole Archie and Miss Grundy thing.

“Yeah.” He finally manages, kicking off his shoes and pants before slipping under the covers. It´s such a familiar feeling, even though the bed is too small and the covers won´t be enough to keep them both warm, but oddly enough Jughead doesn´t mind.

It´s quiet as Archie slips under the covers too then, safe for a small creaking of the bed when he settles on his side, and suddenly there´s so many things Jughead wants to say. Things he couldn´t put into words, how he was angry at Archie for standing him up, how that anger turned into disappointment and then into the numbness that was slowly threatening to take over his life and probably has been for years. How he wishes they could have gone on that road trip and how that might have changed things. How he had really been looking forward to the whole thing and that maybe they could have stayed friends, that it wouldn´t have mattered if he lost his place to sleep, because his home had never been a place, but two eyes and a heartbeat.

“I´m sorry.” Archie´s voice cuts through the silence and the bed creaks again as he shifts onto his back. “For everything, I…”

“Don´t.”

“No…Jug, please.” His voice is quiet and yet firm as he speaks and Jughead tries not to concentrate on how Archie´s side is pressing into his back. He´s warm, Archie´s _always_ been warm, even if it was just an arm thrown around Jughead during a break on the school grounds or them sharing a bed when they were kids and Jughead´s heart feels like it´s skipping a beat, almost as if it´s _starting_ again after having some difficulties.

And alright, he really needs to stop sounding so poetic.

“I´m sorry. I wasn´t a very good friend. I was selfish and you deserve better.”

And maybe he does, but he never thought he did and maybe that was why he had just given up on their friendship instead of fighting for what had kept him going for so many years.

“And I want to make it up to you. Please.”

Archie rests a hand on his shoulder then and Jughead jumps at the touch without even wanting to.

Archie feels that ache in his chest getting worse, as if somebody has put a chain around his torso and keeps pulling it tighter and tighter at every spoken word.

He pulls his hand back, but then there´s movement and suddenly Jughead´s own hand has a firm grasp on his. Archie is pulled forward slightly and his heart stumbles along with him until his chest is pressed to Jughead´s back.

“I´m sorry too.” Jughead whispers, “And don´t get used to me saying that, okay? You might want to savour this moment actually.” A small smile tugs on the corners of his lips and his heart is beating faster against his ribcage. He holds his breath then, until he can hear a chuckle from Archie and feels the other boy shift into a more comfortable position so that they´re pressed together, front to back under the covers. Archie´s arm is slung around his waist and he holds him close, the familiar but almost forgotten warmth spreading from Jughead´s chest through his entire body.

“Sorry.” Archie mumbles again and “Is this okay?” and Jughead wants to tell him that nothing has felt as right as _this_ in a long time, but he doesn´t, because he isn´t quite sure how to put it into words without sounding incredibly cheesy.

“It´s fine, alright? Just…no more apologizing.” Jughead finally manages after a while, daring to press himself a little tighter against Archie. “Or otherwise we´ll never stop. And I have more important things to do than to spend the rest of my life apologizing. I need to see how the story of Riverdale develops. Can´t stop now that it´s getting interesting.”

It´s probably not the right time to bring up Jason´s murder and while he does want to know how it all develops Jughead might be able to wait another night, because Archie´s bed is comfortable, _Archie_ is comfortable, and he feels as if he´s about to drift off to sleep any minute now.

“Yeah…you´re right. It´s only just getting good, isn´t it?” Archie mumbles and if Jughead shivers a little when there´s lips pressing against the back of his neck then neither of them is to blame for that, really, because neither of them have been sleeping all too well.

And if this is the universe´s way of making up for whatever the hell went wrong last summer, then that´s fine with Jughead, or at least that´s what he thinks as he drifts off to sleep along to Archie´s steady breathing and the other boy´s hand curled into the fabric of Jughead´s shirt.


End file.
